Tales of adventures in quilting, gardening, photography and cooking from the Kingdom of Chiconia

Potstickers don’t stick around…

It’s been many years since I was able to eat authentic Chinese food.

Mainly this is because gluten and I don’t get along. I have trouble communicating my dietary needs in most Chinese restaurants, where English is not the first language and where the question “can you do anything gluten free?” generally produces a blank stare, let alone more in-depth enquiries about cross-contamination. The way the food is produced causes most of the problems. I’ve observed that all noodles are dunked into the same vat of boiling water, be they wheat or rice noodles, so I’m not even safe with rice noodles. Soy sauce is everywhere, and dishes made without it are stirred with the same utensils as dishes made with it. It just hasn’t been worth it. I’ve made my own poor imitations, but I’ve missed certain dishes I thought were out of my gluten-free reach.

Until now. I have cracked the recipe for one of my all-time favourites: potsticker dumplings. These divine little parcels of yumminess are first fried gently until the bottom is crispy and brown, and then steamed to cook the rest through. They’re stuffed with cabbage, pork, garlic, ginger and onion, and they are so incredibly moreish that the Husband and I noshed a plateful each and still looked wistfully for more…

I used this recipe as my start point, and I’d suggest following the video rather than the written recipe/process for a better result. Using GF soy sauce and substituting dry sherry for rice wine is a no brainer, and the filling was soon ready – I used chopped roast pork instead of fatty minced pork, and a little of the jellied pork stock to keep it juicy.

The dumpling skins were another matter. Gluten free flour just doesn’t behave the same way as the normal stuff, and kneading and resting dough to develop or relax the gluten is an exercise in futility. I used the same quantities as in the recipe, but added a scant tablespoonful of sunflower oil and a half teaspoon of xanthan gum to the mixture, and kept the kneading to a minimum.

Gluten free doughs also dry out much, much faster, so I cut off only what I was about to use, and kept the rest in an airtight container under a damp cloth until I was ready to use it. I don’t have a proper dumpling rolling pin, and that’s now high on the shopping list because it will make producing the skins a lot easier. My dough is a little more fragile than the wheat kind, and produces a slightly translucent dumpling due to the high proportion of rice flour in the GF mixture, but neither I nor the Husband found there to be a discernible difference in the taste. The soft top and crispy bottoms were perfect.

We both agree, however, that extensive further testing and sampling is going to be required. I’m thinking prawn and sweet chilli next time…

9 years, and the active disease (rather than the latent form, which I had before) was triggered by a severe attack of gastro, which just went on and on till I realised something more was wrong, setting off a 2 month array of tests, x-rays, scans, culminating in the double-ended -oscopy which finally produced a diagnosis. There’s nothing particularly secret about it, so ask away! And the dumplings were fabulous.

That must have been pretty scary. Not knowing what was causing the pain and then waiting for the results of all those tests. I suppose not being able to tolerate gluten is small fry compared to some of the things you were thinking it might be!

What I am, is greedy! And I enjoy cooking, and do it as my only paid work, baking sweet and savoury goods for a local coffee shop. So I have to keep experimenting, testing, creating. The Husband is a willing guinea pig…

I thought of you as I ate takeaway wonton soup for lunch today… antidote to miserable Sydney weather, back-at-work-it-is and a busy week at TA. I hadn’t considered the repercussions of coeliac and outsourced Asian food… when my sister was vegan I became quite adept at negotiating suitable eating out preferences for her but for coeliac it’s critical.
I make nowhere near as much of my own food as you do, but I make a lot more than many people because of my preferences and mild issues with sugar and additives. I understand your victory and joy at coming up with delicious variations of foods you miss.
Yum 🙂

A small increment of success is also very motivating, I find! Having achieved acceptable dumpling skins, I’m now determined to get them completely right. The laws of nature may be against me, but the Husband and I will have a hugely enjoyable time testing and sampling! One day, I may find a way to make acceptable GF naan bread, and then I can die happy!

I’m still not totally happy with the consistency of the dough. Further testing soon, with sweet rice flour/cornflour/tapioca starch, and another alternative using the green banana flour. I’ll keep you posted!

Kate, I never even knew about pot stickers until it was too late for my diet. I look forward to trying this recipe and to your further testing! So long as they taste as lovely as you say, well, my pallet will never know the difference. Yummy!

I am thinking of writing up my latest challenge ~English Muffins~ which are something else I don’t remember. Perhaps you will try them and tell me what you think? 😉